After months of enduring brutal treatment in harsh weather conditions, the water protectors at Standing Rock and their supporters could celebrate at last on Sunday when the Obama administration denied the final application needed to complete the Dakota Access pipeline. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will undertake a comprehensive environmental review of alternate pipeline routes -- or decide to cancel the pipeline altogether.

"Pipeline leaks are incredibly common and incredibly dangerous," said Randi Spivak with the Center for Biological Diversity. "This pipeline has promised to threaten every community it cuts through, endangering the water supply of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe -- and our climate."

We haven't seen the last of this outrageous project, but the Center will continue our strong support of the water protectors and help fight this pipeline until it's defeated. We feel so much gratitude toward everyone who responded to our action alerts, made phone calls, sent supplies and funding, and stood in solidarity with Standing Rock. Thank you.

Time's running out before we have a President Trump in the White House -- a disaster for our planet, wildlife and civil rights.

People power is now more important than ever. When we rise up and speak with one voice, our power multiplies, and with it our ability to enact change.

So this week the Center launched our Trump Action Toolkit as a fast and easy way to stand together. Sign our new pledge of resistance to Trump and check out other actions, including a petition defending oceans from oil and gas development and a guide to calling Congress and telling your reps to resist climate rollbacks in the pending Energy Bill.
Use (and share) our toolkit now -- and keep checking back as we stock it with more actions.

Attorneys General Move to Weaken Habitat Protections

To squash regulations that give endangered species lifesaving protections, 18 Republican attorneys general filed suit last week targeting the ability of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect areas where endangered species used to live, but don't anymore. If successful, the suit would open the door for the Trump administration to further gut protections for wildlife -- so the Center will intervene to defend habitat protection.

"This attack is out of step with strong majorities of the American public who want to see our wildlife saved from extinction," said the Center's Brett Hartl. "There's no way to save endangered species without protecting the places they live."

A victory for the ocean depths: Under a legal settlement secured last week by the Center as a result of our 2015 lawsuit, the Trump administration must conduct in-depth analyses of risks to wildlife and ocean ecosystems before it approves deep-sea mining projects.

The deep ocean is believed to contain billions of dollars' worth of rare-earth metals and minerals. Several countries and corporations are pushing deep-sea mining projects in the South Pacific, where marine scientists fear it could devastate deepwater ecosystems.

"I'd hate to see these beautiful underwater worlds torn apart by industrial machinery," said Emily Jeffers of the Center. "This agreement will be an important step in protecting sea turtles, whales and other wildlife threatened by deep-sea mining."

The Los Angeles Superior Court has upheld California's ban on trade in ivory and rhino horn. Ivory-market proponents filed suit challenging the ban earlier this year, so the Center and partners intervened. Before the ban, California was the second-largest U.S. ivory market.

"With current poaching levels, elephants could disappear from Africa in 20 years," said Sarah Uhlemann, the Center's international program director. "This decision paves the way for other states to follow California's lead, giving elephants a chance for a future." Read more.

Attached to this year's annual spending bill (funding agencies like the EPA and Fish and Wildlife Service) is a disastrous provision that would strip federal protections from wolves in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Wyoming.

Republicans have been trying to sneak this rider through for years, and now, caving to the pressure of those anti-wildlife forces, Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) has publicly offered her support. We can't let it happen. Provisions like this undermine science, democracy and our environmental laws -- and if this one goes through, hunters and industry will declare open season on wolves.

If you live in Wisconsin, please call Sen. Baldwin and urge her to withdraw her support from this devious and destructive legislation. Everyone else, stay tuned for more ways to take action.

Give More Greenly With Our Giving Guide

Ah, December. This magical month is chock-full of commercials and junk mail about holiday shopping and what everyone's buying, buying, buying. Imagine the massive carbon cost to the planet from producing, advertising, distributing and consuming holiday gifts -- not pretty.

Enter the Center's annual Greener Giving Guide, including tips for giving nonmaterial presents (like a Center membership) and a few other ways to help save wildlife while making your loved ones happy, too.

The American pika is a cold-weather-adapted, herbivorous relative of the rabbit, about the size of a large -- and adorable -- baked potato. But unlike baked potatoes, pikas are highly territorial.

Using squeak-toy-like roars, pikas defend their rocky fields and alpine meadows from invading rodents, bears, birds of prey and even human hikers. But due to climate change, their habitat is quickly changing -- and disappearing. Mountain snows are melting sooner and coming later. Pikas, the inspiration behind the Pokémon character Pikachu, are in trouble.